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James O'Brien

Hockey Daily Dose

Moving on

So, the NHL decided not to suspend Rick Nash for his hit on Tomas Kopecky, even though Brendan Shanahan called it “rotten.” Surely this decision would have been the same if Kopecky clobbered Nash the same way, right?

At this point, I think we’re all just beaten down by the erratic justice system. It will probably take a truly horrific, grossly negligent hit to really rile people up about the next baffling decision.

Really, the thing that’s frustrating is that the league will look the other way when stars do dirty things and also look the other way when they’re impeded regularly by hooks, grabs and clutches. It’s basically the exact opposite of what you’d like to see in a healthy sport, but I digress.

ILYA OUT

The New Jersey Devils ambled gingerly out of Martin Brodeur’s month-long absence, but will their playoff hopes survive Ilya Kovalchuk’s shoulder injury? The Russian star suffered it sometime during Saturday’s game and the early word is that he could miss between 2-4 weeks with the ailment.

Kovalchuk is one of the league’s sturdiest star players - especially since he usually logs the minutes of a No. 1 defenseman - so it must be a pretty painful injury to keep him out. Anyone who questions his desire or toughness at this point might as well get “xenophobe” tattooed on his or her forehead.

Ovechkin now has a five-game goal streak (six goals and three assists for nine points), yet it’s not just the points that make his recent play encouraging. He’s doing the all-over-the-place stuff that made him the human embodiment of video game hockey again.

He had five hits on Sunday and has had at least three hits in all but one of his last seven games. In that time, he's also clocked about five shots on goal per contest. Yup, that sounds like the Ovechkin we all thought we knew and loved.

BOOTH CLOSED

It sounds like David Booth’s ankle injury has ended his season, which is a bummer, but Booth owners probably punted that ball quite a while ago anyway. Things really haven’t been the same for the winger since Mike Richards absolutely obliterated him with that “legal” hit quite a few moons ago. Hopefully he can get it back together eventually, though.

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ point streak ended at 12 games while the Penguins (barely) extended their winning streak to that same mark this weekend … Tobias Enstrom scored a goal in his return from a lengthy shoulder injury … Ryan Wilson’s season might be over after aggravating a prior ankle problem … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was placed on the IR with an illness that might need to be called “an illness” if it sidelines him much longer … Daniel Briere’s ugly season continues with another injury … Mike Smith remains day-to-day … John Michael-Liles is day-to-day with a lower-body issue.

Well, this weekend was pretty eventful, wasn’t it?

While the sheer quantity of games (20 over three days) was actually a little lower than this jam-packed season usually trots out between Friday and Sunday, the quality of storylines more than made up for that.

The two biggest storylines sprouted up on Sunday as the Tampa Bay Lightning canned head coach Guy Boucher and the Dallas Stars sent aging captain Brenden Morrow (plus a third-round pick) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for prospect Joe Morrow (no relation) and a fifth-rounder.

Naturally, it’s purely speculative to guess what happens next for the Penguins/Morrow and the Lightning sans Boucher, but that’s kind of what we do here. So let’s get cracking.

Sifting through the trade reactions on Twitter and via other venues really provided an interesting perspective regarding how people react to all sorts of news. To be more direct: it showed how flippant or out-of-date opinions can really be.

“He was a warrior during Dallas’ Cup back in 2000, and he carried the Stars during that playoff run in 2008 when was close to a point-per-game in the postseason."

I’m guessing that scout meant the Stars’ 4-2 series defeat to the New Jersey Devils in 2000, but even ignoring more nitpicky quibbles, that quote represents one side of the Morrow coin: nostalgic types who ignore the fact that athletes tend to age in dog years (or like the President of the United States in some cases). Rest assured that Morrow is a different player at 34 than he was at 29 or 21.

ALL ABOUT EXPECTATIONS

Of course, one can also over-correct in the other direction. In judging a trade, people often expect a home run when it’s possible that a team was hitting with accuracy rather than power. The Penguins likely realize that Morrow’s an old 34 - he’s been playing a very physical brand of hockey at the NHL level since age 21 - but they might just want a guy who can score ugly goals for them and occasionally mimic what Bill Guerin (another former Star) did for them in his final NHL run.

Honestly, my feeling is that Morrow is quite close to “done” as a difference-making player.

With those golden opportunities, he still only managed 11 points in 29 games this season. He was also limited to just 26 in 57 games last season.

AN OLD 34

There seem to be two basic scenarios for Morrow once Evgeni Malkin’s healthy enough to return: the gritty winger might get a plum job alongside Geno and James Neal in the top six or he’ll get stuck in the third line (or worse).

In a way, that parallels his experiences with Dallas this season, yet the ceiling has been raised substantially. That’s true especially because he’s in a contract year; it’s easy to forget that - on paper - he’s not that old at 34. Sure, it’s a 34 like Kobe Bryant is 34, but still.

Long story summarized: you could do worse than gambling on Morrow. Just don’t be surprised if he just makes a minimal impact.

Regardless, I’d be delighted if we stop referring to millionaire athletes as “warriors.” Let’s stick with “tough” or “gritty.” The sports-war analogies peaked with the term “blitz.”

THE FALL GUY

Three years ago, it seemed like the Tampa Bay Lightning had the potential to be The Team of the Future. They had Canadian hero Steve Yzerman as their GM on the heels of his apprenticeship in Detroit. Yzerman landed hot AHL coach of the month Guy Boucher (who even has super cool and semi-foreboding facial scars!). Combine those factors with Steve Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier* and a laughably bad division and it seemed as if a new contender was being birthed.

For a year, it looked really good, too. Unfortunately, people always want more - I blame Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” ads,** personally - and that set the deck for failure for Boucher.

Is it really Boucher’s fault? Probably not. While improved, the team’s defense isn’t exactly brimming with the kind of guys you’d build a dynasty around. Goaltending can be a chicken-and-the-egg thing when significantly great or awful defenses are involved, but one way or another, the Lightning’s netminders have been bad for years.

(Actually, it’s probably easier just to chart the spurts of success rather than counting every failure.)

The more important question is: how will this affect the team, fantasy-wise? Personally, on the offensive side, you have to hope that the Lightning’s outstanding power play doesn’t get dinged too badly by Boucher’s departure. Maybe Tampa Bay will benefit from a taskmaster-type on defense, because Boucher’s obvious downfall was not finding a way to plug the team’s many leaks.

I’m not too thrilled about the prospects of a big turnaround. At least this season, that is.

Jump for more from around the NHL.

* - Honestly, I kind of feel obliged to include Vinny even if he’s enormously overpaid.

** - OK, “Manifest Destiny” is the real term to admonish, but hamburgers are more fun to talk about than imperialism. Most of the time.

NOT NASHTY ENOUGH

So, the NHL decided not to suspend Rick Nash for his hit on Tomas Kopecky, even though Brendan Shanahan called it “rotten.” Surely this decision would have been the same if Kopecky clobbered Nash the same way, right?

At this point, I think we’re all just beaten down by the erratic justice system. It will probably take a truly horrific, grossly negligent hit to really rile people up about the next baffling decision.

Really, the thing that’s frustrating is that the league will look the other way when stars do dirty things and also look the other way when they’re impeded regularly by hooks, grabs and clutches. It’s basically the exact opposite of what you’d like to see in a healthy sport, but I digress.

ILYA OUT

The New Jersey Devils ambled gingerly out of Martin Brodeur’s month-long absence, but will their playoff hopes survive Ilya Kovalchuk’s shoulder injury? The Russian star suffered it sometime during Saturday’s game and the early word is that he could miss between 2-4 weeks with the ailment.

Kovalchuk is one of the league’s sturdiest star players - especially since he usually logs the minutes of a No. 1 defenseman - so it must be a pretty painful injury to keep him out. Anyone who questions his desire or toughness at this point might as well get “xenophobe” tattooed on his or her forehead.

Ovechkin now has a five-game goal streak (six goals and three assists for nine points), yet it’s not just the points that make his recent play encouraging. He’s doing the all-over-the-place stuff that made him the human embodiment of video game hockey again.

He had five hits on Sunday and has had at least three hits in all but one of his last seven games. In that time, he's also clocked about five shots on goal per contest. Yup, that sounds like the Ovechkin we all thought we knew and loved.

BOOTH CLOSED

It sounds like David Booth’s ankle injury has ended his season, which is a bummer, but Booth owners probably punted that ball quite a while ago anyway. Things really haven’t been the same for the winger since Mike Richards absolutely obliterated him with that “legal” hit quite a few moons ago. Hopefully he can get it back together eventually, though.

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ point streak ended at 12 games while the Penguins (barely) extended their winning streak to that same mark this weekend … Tobias Enstrom scored a goal in his return from a lengthy shoulder injury … Ryan Wilson’s season might be over after aggravating a prior ankle problem … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was placed on the IR with an illness that might need to be called “an illness” if it sidelines him much longer … Daniel Briere’s ugly season continues with another injury … Mike Smith remains day-to-day … John Michael-Liles is day-to-day with a lower-body issue.